When originally designed, personal computers commonly were used for just a relatively narrow range of applications. Computers, including portable and hand-held computing devices, are now used for and with a wide variety of applications and communication formats. As a result, computer users currently must organize much more information, as well as different types of information, than when computers were originally designed.
Conventional computer file systems force users to use and remember arbitrary, out-of-context filing structures, including file names, hierarchical directory structures, etc. In contrast, innate human memory works by association so that events are often remembered as happening in relationship to other events. With the significant numbers of computer files and computer information with which many users interact, conventional computer filing structures and organizations can make it difficult or impossible for users to find and access computer information with which they previously worked or used.
Likewise, current communication and member directory services use static, user-generated information to organize contact information. People or contacts tend to be organized alphabetically or according to file hierarchies. For example, in member directory services people are commonly organized according to formal organizational hierarchical structures. However, many relationships and groups are much more dynamic than formal organizational hierarchical structures and people do not intuitively arrange their contacts alphabetically or according to topical hierarchies.